Lead Exposure Associated with Renovation and Remodeling Activities: WorkerCharacterization and Blood-Lead Study

摘要

The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X) required the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a study of lead exposure associated with renovation and remodeling (R&R) activities (the R&R study). The report presents the results of one of the principal data collection efforts in the R&R study: the Worker Characterization and Blood-lead Study (WCBS). The primary goal of the WCBS was to collect data and information that would permit an assessment of the relationship between R&R activities and lead exposure to the R&R workers conducting the activities. The study surveyed two groups of workers (union carpenters and employees of independent contractors) in two cities (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis, Missouri). The collected data included: (1) Worker blood samples that were chemically analyzed for lead concentration; and (2) Questionnaire data on demographics, and extent to which specific R&R work activities were conducted, work practices, previous training on or knowledge about lead, and non-work activities and personal characteristics that are potentially related to lead exposure.